Forged in Steel
by HarlequinRavenwing
Summary: The Brotherhood Of Steel had always been Paladin Danse's life, but then he'd been forced to run from them. Jac thought they were her best chance to defeat the Institute and find her son, but their extreme views had become too much. Faced with almost impossible choices, it was finally time for them both to take a stand. Spoilers for expanded/slightly AU Blind Betrayal storyline.


_**Author's note** \- Okay, so I enjoyed the Blind Betrayal Quest but I felt it was over rather quickly and I wondered just how did Danse end up all the way at the opposite end of Commonwealth from the Glowing Sea and what happened to him along the way? This is my attempt to figure that out by following him on his journey, and also tracing the path of my English sole Survivor as she tries to track him down and understand what it really means to be human..._

* * *

 **Prologue**

 **The Sentinel Site, Pre-war military nuclear facility, The Glowing Sea**

 _\- - - They're coming - - - Authorised use of lethal force - - - Get out of there - - -_

The encrypted message had remained active on the T-60 helmet HUD since the start of the mission earlier that day, pulsing intermittently just below the natural eye-line so as not to distract the wearer from whatever was going on in front of them. God only knows the sender had taken one hell of a risk transmitting it directly to the power armour visual receptors in the first place, but at least the channel was secure and however disturbing the content, it most certainly warranted a response.

"Acknowledged." The Paladin's softly spoken reply was immediately picked up by the helmet vox communicator and converted to amber text so that it dropped into place beneath the original message before both winked out of existence. Almost as an afterthought, he then added, "and…be well."

Be well?

Were they really going to be the last two words he ever uttered as a serving Paladin in the Brotherhood of Steel? Not _it's been an honour_ or _semper Invicta_ or something else that was probably much more appropriate to the situation?

A few moments of further consideration yielded nothing inspirational and so he left it at that. He'd never been particularly good with words anyway, other than when reciting Brotherhood rhetoric of course, but when it came to personal matters all he could do was hope that the person on the other end of the line knew what it meant to him that they'd risked their lives to send the damn message in the first place. Maybe one day he might even have the chance to see them again and thank them for their understanding.

Though how could he ever truly expect them to understand, not when he could barely begin to comprehend it himself…

"Excuse me, Paladin Danse?"

The familiar female voice stirred from his brief but nonetheless uncharacteristic reverie, and Danse looked across to see the new Initiate…correction, _new knight_ watching him intently. Even behind the smoky lenses of the helmet, he knew those soft green eyes of hers would be trying to get a read on him, puzzling over his momentary indecision and wondering if there was anything wrong. Actually knowing her, if he didn't come up with something soon then she'd start looking for answers that he wasn't really prepared to give.

Knight or no, following orders didn't exactly come naturally to Jacqueline, and she had a really bad habit of questioning just about everything. It was probably because she had spent most of her life outside the Brotherhood, and lacked the total dedication to duty and iron-willed discipline that came from years of military training. Then again he'd always made certain allowances in her case, after all she'd been a lost and desperate pre-war civilian when they first met nearly eight months ago, the sole survivor of an old Vault-tec experiment with cryogenic stasis from way back, where all the vault inhabitants had been frozen in time for the past two-hundred years! The pristine world she'd left behind when those lab-techs threw the switch must have been such a contrast to the savage one she'd woken up in, and maybe asking questions was the only thing that kept her sane...perhaps her way of trying to make sense of the senseless in a world ravaged by nuclear war, widespread genetic mutation and the technological corruption of humanity. Add to that the psychological and emotional trauma of seeing her husband murdered and infant son stolen by the Goddamn Institute, it was a wonder that she retained any semblance of herself at all!

Still in the short time that he'd known her, her confidence and determination had shone through like a beacon of light, and it was for those reasons that he'd recruited her into the Brotherhood of Steel as part of his own recon team. She was brave and strong, with a good heart and a true sense of justice...even if she did have sympathetic leanings that made him feel slightly uneasy sometimes.

Despite Danse's best advice and contrary to the tenets of the Brotherhood, Jacqueline didn't always exercise due discretion in choosing her friends and companions. Most likely it was due to the shock of being thrust into this 'Brave New World' as she called it and she was bound to be unfamiliar with the unsavoury nature of the denizens of the Commonwealth, but more often than not it seemed like she was just doing her own thing lately and perhaps _not quite_ as committed to the cause as most of the other, younger initiates that were recruited into the ranks. Up until now, it hadn't really been much of a reason for concern but still, if she wasn't careful then such behaviour and irregular fraternisation would eventually attract the attention of the senior officers and God knows the Brotherhood had never tolerated anyone spending too much time with sympathisers, dissidents or ghouls.

Synths either for that matter...

"Hey, are you alright?"

Danse groaned inwardly. He'd let his thoughts wander again and right now he needed to be focused. Somehow the thought of Jacqueline finding out what was going on was just too much to deal with, and he knew he had to get her away from the facility before they came for him. It was harder than he'd expected though. Deep down, he was surprised to discover that he really did want to tell her the truth, but it was simply too dangerous for her to know right now. Maybe telling her everything would lessen the sting of his betrayal and she'd think better of him if he was honest, but he also knew that if the Brotherhood had even the _slightest_ suspicion she'd known, then they'd almost certainly consider her complicit in his actions and she'd face the disciplinary end of a laser rifle.

That was assuming she didn't react badly and turn on him first to save the approaching squad a job. She was nothing if not a good shot, and he just couldn't bear to pull a gun on her even if it was to defend himself.

Hell, he probably deserved it anyway...

"Danse! Are you still in there?" She gently punched his shoulder guard, and then waved her armoured hand in front of his helmet. "You didn't sneak out of that armour while I wasn't looking, did you?"

He chuckled in spite of himself, and from her posture he could tell that she relaxed a little.

"I'm still here." He affirmed, glad that his worried expression was hidden from view as he finally decided to do what was necessary for them both. "Actually, now that this site has been secured, you should return to Waypoint Echo immediately. I'll remain here on watch until the vertibirds arrive."

"Alone? Is there any point to this?" The obvious concern in her tone kept him from reprimanding her for insubordination. "Look, we've already secured the facility and unless the radscorpions outside know how to hack a terminal, which I very much doubt, there's not likely to be anybody getting in here anytime soon. Is this really necessary?"

He was reminded of Proctor Quinlan when she talked like that, as they shared the same British accent. Where Quinlan had picked it up though God only knows, as there had been no ships across the Atlantic for the best part of two hundred years, but Jacqueline was actually from England and had been a lawyer there before she married her husband. He'd been a native Bostonian, a veteran of Sino-American war serving with the old 108th infantry, and when they tied the knot he had brought her back with him to Sanctuary Hills to settle permanently on American soil. She said they'd been happy together and always spoke of him with such pride, that it must have killed her to see him gunned down in front of her eyes and not be able to do anything about it.

Be damned if he was going to put her in the same situation again.

"It's probably not necessary at all." He stated, conscious of the time passing and trying to not to think about the approaching danger. "I just don't have a choice. Elder Maxson's orders were quite clear. I'm not to take my eyes off these bombs until every one of them has been counted, tested and loaded. If we want Liberty Prime to reach peak efficiency, we can't afford to lose this stockpile."

"It's already been here undisturbed for years." She reasoned, glancing around. "Does Maxson really think it's going to vanish now? I don't know that much about nuclear bombs granted, but I'm fairly sure they won't evaporate if you're not here to watch them."

"Jacqueline..." He growled, not expecting her to make it so difficult. Why wouldn't she just go? "Orders are orders, and yours are to go straight to Waypoint Echo and wait for further instructions. I'll keep an eye on things here until these bombs are picked up and join you as soon as I can."

"But…"

"That's an order, Knight!" He'd heard it said by some of the initiates that his steely voice could stop even a deathclaw in its tracks and to his relief, Jacqueline's shoulders slumped and she offered him a cursory nod.

"Yes, Sir."

There was still a hint of something in her tone, something that suggested she still didn't quite buy it, but at last she turned around and started to make her way back up the steel gantry that led to the structure surrounding the storage area.

As he watched her go, Danse held an image of her clear in his mind from when they last spent time together in the mess hall aboard the great Brotherhood Airship, Prydwen. While she wasn't as striking as the girls in the pin-up images some of the other knights pasted in their lockers, and not as lean as someone who had spent their life undergoing regular sessions of PT drills, there was just something about Jacqueline he'd always found attractive. Maybe it was the way her long red hair tumbled over her shoulders when she let it down, or perhaps it was simply that her generous curves made him think of breaking the Brotherhood rules on fraternisation just to see if there could have been something more between them than just friendship. But decorum had always prohibited him from acting on impulse and he'd never taken that first step. After all, she was still fairly recently widowed, a grieving mother searching for her lost son and also a Knight serving under his command. He himself was not only a Paladin upholding the core beliefs of the Brotherhood, but her superior officer and her mentor, and that relationship was one built on trust, mutual admiration and respect.

Add to that the possibility that he was also something else...something unexpected...it just made matters ten times worse.

Maybe a thousand times worse if it was really true.

It couldn't be though, could it? He'd have known, surely? Perhaps it was simply a mistake?

A horrible, terrible mistake...

Fighting back a sudden wave of nausea and panic, Danse breathed deeply and leaned against a stack of crates to steady himself as the enormity of what he was about to do hit him with all the force of a bolt of lightning striking out from a radstorm. He could no longer hear Jacqueline's booted steps ringing out on the walkways above, so he guessed she must have been well on her way to the exit by now and hopefully, heading out into Glowing Sea. He knew the armour she wore would protect her from the extreme radiation out there, and the considerable martial skills she'd developed under his training would help her to be more than a match for any radscorpions she encountered.

But if anything did happen to her, if she was hurt or unable to defend herself…no, he didn't need thoughts like that and neither did she.

Jacqueline was more than capable of looking after herself and it would have been so much harder and more dangerous for her if he'd allowed her to stay. What he had done, he'd done in the best interests of them both and it was definitely the right choice for all concerned.

Sadly, now he had another decision to make.

Undoubtedly the vertibirds dispatched from the Prydwen would be well on their way by now, and knowing Arthur Maxson the way he did, they would already be zeroing in on his position. If the squad followed standard search and retrieve protocols, then the first thing they would do would be to try and get a reading on the heart monitor that was hard-wired into his armour. Once they had locked onto that signal, then there would be no escaping them and right now he couldn't even contemplate firing on the men and women he'd served alongside for so many years just to make a clean escape, especially when he felt so conflicted about it all to start with.

The simple fact was that if he was going to get away without having to resort to bloodshed, then he had to leave his power armour behind. The armour that was so much more than just a protective shell, and was like a second skin to him. It was not only his badge of honour and a source of pride, but as much a part of home as being in the Brotherhood itself.

And now, at last it was time to exit his power armour for the final time.

As the torso cracked open and the inner frame peeled back to allow him to climb out, he felt a painful wrenching in his gut as he stepped back and down onto the hard concrete floor. Despite the unnatural heat that radiated round inside the building, Danse shuddered as he looked at the empty armour and considered the fact that he would never again wear it in defence of his Brotherhood compatriots. It all felt so wrong, so incredibly wrong.

But what else was there to do?

In less than an hour he would be nothing but an outcast, a fugitive to be hunted down and destroyed by whatever means possible. There would be no reasoning with his pursuers, and no opportunity to present his case. He had no evidence that they were wrong other than the recollections of his own memory, and the Brotherhood must have had irrefutable intel for them to come at him like this without any warning...well, other than the encrypted message he'd received from a truly loyal friend.

All things considered, running was his only real recourse of action and that's what he had to do.

Turning aside from the empty, lifeless husk of steel, Danse hurried toward the stairs leading up to one of the control rooms on the far side of storage area. When both he and Jacqueline had been searching the room earlier, he had noticed that there were three radiation suits hanging in a nearby locker that had looked relatively undamaged. On closer inspection, he found the first to be degrading close to the outer seals of the helmet, and the second had a large tear in the rad-resistant fabric beneath the arm. Fortunately, the third suit appeared to be in good condition with the seals all intact, and so after checking it as thoroughly as he dared given the pressing time, he was fairly confident that it would get him safely across the Glowing Sea. He'd also noticed that there was an old ragged coat stuffed under one of the desks, and he immediately slipped this on over his Brotherhood uniform. No point advertising the fact he was once one of their number when he got back to the Commonwealth! Aside from a few rounds of ammunition, stimpaks and radiation chems, there was nothing more that would really be of any use in the immediate future, so he stashed these in his pockets and quickly pulled the radiation suit on over his clothes, grimacing at the unpleasant smell that came from the helmet.

Gathering up his laser rifle, he hurried toward the exit almost positive that he could hear the sound of whirring vertibird blades above the continual ranging radstorm outside, but without the enhanced audio of his power armour he just couldn't be certain. The nuclear wind almost tore the door out of his hands when he opened it, and for the first time in a long while Danse was keenly aware of just how much additional strength his power armour had provided. It was an ongoing battle against the elements just to get down the stairs, but determination and the will to survive pushed him onwards and downwards until he reached the scorched earth far below. Thankfully the winds were a lot less powerful at ground level, and soon he was striking out in what he hoped was the direction of civilisation. With each step he took, he warily glanced around to make sure he wasn't being stalked by one of any number of creatures that now called this hellish area home, and he made slow but steady progress across the barren landscape and away from the Site.

Then he felt it…

Below his feet, the ground began to shudder and the rushing winds began to pull at his suit as if to tear it from his body. Bracing himself as best he could, Danse held his weapon ready and looked to the ground, waiting, watching for the tell-tale signs of a radscorpion about to erupt from the earth like a hell-spawned demon. More and more the earth trembled and the winds howled as beads of sweat formed upon his brow, the salty rivulets running down his forehead to sting his eyes.

But it was not to the ground he should have been looking.

A sudden rush of wind knocked Danse clean off his feet and he fell back, almost certain that he was about to meet his end until he saw a distinctive black outline passing barely ten feet above the ground! Not daring to move, not daring to breathe, he could only stare at the silhouette of the vertibird as it flew overhead, the powerful engines struggling against the storm but propelling the vehicle relentlessly onwards toward the Sentinel Site as if to challenge the very heart of the maelstrom itself. It only took moments but it felt more like hours as he lay there watching it pass by, and even when the tail finally cleared his line of vision, Danse still dare not move in case one of the gunners looked back and spotted the prone form of the very man they were searching for.

Eventually he realised that they couldn't have seen him or simply didn't care about some common scav roaming the blasted wastes. If they had been concerned about his presence they would have likely gunned him down on approach. Cautiously he rolled onto his stomach to watch the craft make a clumsy landing on the uneven ground before five heavily armoured Knights jumped out and quickly assumed a standard search pattern formation. After their perfectly executed sweep of the outside of the building, they finally advanced on the stairway leading up to the entrance and began their cautious assault on the interior.

Thank God...

They were not coming in his direction and he really needed to move.

Rising into a low crouch so as not to present an obvious target against the tempestuous horizon, it was at first with agonising slowness that Danse resumed his onward journey across the Glowing Sea. As distance and poor visibility finally created a safe barrier between his pursuers and their prey, he reflected on the fact that he was not only leaving behind the Sentinel Site and all the nukes contained within its pyramidal walls, but also his entire life as exemplary Paladin in the Brotherhood of Steel.

Up until this point everything he thought he had ever known was likely based on a painful and terrible lie, but whatever lay ahead of him from now on, he was going to make damn sure that he controlled his own fate.

No matter what that might be.


End file.
